7.

At first, they'd thought Sabrina had sent them far away from the Gym. It was only when they discovered the plastic nature of the town, and the dolls that were as big as they were, that Jessie and James began to suspect the truth.

And when the sky itself was torn away and revealed to be a shell, when the giggling little girl and the emotionless Gym Leader behind it loomed down open the little doll village, when the sheer power of Sabrina and the utter hopelessness of the situation was revealed in one terrible gesture, they could only say one thing as they clutched each other in fear.

"It's a small world after all!!"


It was all down to Meowth now. And, he knew, that wasn't enough. He needed the Ghost Pokemon on their feet and backing him up.

"Get up, youse bums! We got ourselves someone ta beat down!"

Gastly and Haunter, shaking off the effects of the Confusion attack, did not seem full of joy at the prospect.

"Well, yeah, but, no, see, Whatsername makes me wet myself and that's no longer scientifically possible, man," said Haunter.

"Yeah, she'll be all-" Gastly extended his mouth to ludicrous proportions – "RAAAAARRRR, and we'll be all like-" He mimed dying.

"Take dis seriously," snapped Meowth. "Jessie and James need us."

"Ehhh, well, we only just met them and…"

The cat turned to them, his eyes burning. "Go ahead. Finish dat sentence."

Gastly looked to Haunter for help, and found none. "Er… Never mind, shutting up."

"Just keep Sabrina distracted." Meowth slipped out his claws. "I'll handle da rest."


There was nowhere to run but still they tried, even as the ground shook from the effortless steps of the monster behind them. And just when they thought they were gaining, they were forced to slow by unclean powers as the titan laughed.

They'd thought Porta Vista had been their lowest, most hopeless hour. They'd been wrong.

And there was no escape. Not now, not ever.


The Gym's arena was not hard to find, and a quick glance showed Sabrina was there, crouched over a collection of doll's houses. She seemed distracted, this gave them a chance – she could be forced to release Jessie and James if they hit her fast enough, and after that…

"Okay guys… hit it!"

At that, the two ghosts zoomed into the room, materialised top hats and canes, and began dancing. And singing badly. Sure enough, Sabrina became distracted by this.

And with that achieved, Meowth screamed forward with his claws ready to strike and made it halfway before he was hurled into the wall by her power.

"That was unwise," she said, her voice dull and leaden from her real form.

"L-Let them g-"

Meowth was flung into the wall again.

Gastly and Haunter, worried, sprung into action the only way they knew how…

They shoved cream pies into Sabrina's face.

And the attack paused.

"What's the follow-up?" asked Haunter.

"Dunno, dude, I thought you had an idea."

"Hmmm." Haunter thought this through, then walloped himself on the head and pretended to be unconscious.

"You suck, man!"

Sabrina watched this with confusion, unable to understand what was being said, but by the end of the antics she was starting to smile. And that smile turned into a laugh, an uncontrollable one, one that filled the Gym while the "child" Sabrina began to vanish and while Jessie and James found themselves returned to their true size.

"We're back!" cried James. "We're alive! We're-"

Jessie glanced at the laughing Sabrina with sheer hatred. "And she's down."

And in a swift, terrible moment, screaming with rage, she smashed her fist into the psychic's face. The head was driven into the floor with a dull thud, the nose cracked open, the laughter suddenly cut off.

Jessie took in a deep breath, her chest pounding. "All right. All right. Now let's… let's leave."

And as they turned to do so, a bearded man teleported into their way, his expression turning from happiness to shock to anger as he saw Sabrina's body. Team Rocket paused.

"I owe you for saving my daughter, so I won't give you the hiding you deserve for that," he spat. "Consider the debt paid by safe passage. Teleportation."

And with that, all of Team Rocket found themselves teleported to the outside of the Gym. The Pokeballs they'd stolen, they realised, remained inside.

"So…" James looked like he was sucking a lemon. "Do we go back in?"

Jessie clenched her fists but said nothing.

"We're not going back in, right? We're leaving in case Sabrina gets up again?"

"We came so close," she whispered. "We need this win. We earned this win. We…"

He put a consoling hand on her shoulder. "I know, Jess."

The team turned away and back towards the base, and bitterness was left in their wake.